In urban or military combat operations, it is often desirable for the warrior to neutralize a target threat (e.g., a group of armed combatants, artillery vehicles, etc.) while maintaining substantial distance therefrom. This can be achieved using guided or unguided projectiles, such as a bomb, grenade, or missile. In using these projectiles, the relative position of the target from the launch location is typically determined with the aid of a ranging device. Then, an operator located at a substantial distance from the target (i.e., at least a few hundred meters) launches a projectile toward the target. The operator may use a hand-held launcher (e.g., hand held grenade launcher such as the M79, M203, or XM320 grenade launchers employed by the military) or a launcher mounted on a platform (e.g., a tripod or a land or air vehicle). The projectile then follows a guided or ballistic trajectory to the target.
Proper launch does not guarantee that the projectile's warhead will be effective against the target. For example, a ballistic projectile may be diverted from its intended path, e.g., due to factors such as tip-off or wind forces. Guided projectiles also require some form of course-correcting capability for operation throughout their flight trajectory, adding to the size, weight, and cost of the weapon. Even for guided weapons, which may be used to mitigate these error-producing factors, the target may be positioned behind an obstruction or barrier, potentially eluding the projectile's warhead fragmentation pattern. In such circumstances it may be difficult to project adequate lethality even using guided projectiles.
Moreover, standard warheads may be designed to be lethal only against point or closely clustered targets. Their nearly spherical high-energy detonation pattern often projects many of its fragments up or down rather than toward the intended target, a limitation that results in inefficient destruction of certain widely dispersed targets (e.g., groups of separated individuals). Thus, the standard projectile's warhead can have a limited kill and casualty radius requiring small miss distances, which are often sensitive to many operator or environmental effects that limit effectiveness.
Often, dispersed targets can be engaged using projectiles with focused warheads. In such systems the lethal fragments are directed to impact only into those areas of interest. An example of a warhead having such characteristics is the Claymore mine, which directs its fragments forward in a fan-like pattern that produces numerous causalities inefficient projection of fragments upward or downward. In effect, this allows a smaller warhead to have the effectiveness of a much larger warhead. To use such a warhead on a moving projectile effectively, however, it must be very accurately oriented at detonation, typically to a degree or less, and that detonation must be very accurately timed.